Basil the Great

Today the Coptic Church celebrates Basil of Caesarea, also known as St. Basil the Great, a bishop of the fourth century. Basil holds a prominent place in Orthodox history. He was the brother of Gregory of Nyssa and close friend of Gregory the Theologian, and together the three had a profound impact on the theology and direction of the church. To the average Copt, Basil is best known as the compiler of the liturgy that is prayed every Sunday in Coptic churches. To historians, Basil is also known as one of the first founders of hospitals and centralized social services to the poor, which he began in response to famine. He was a constant advocate for the poor, and spoke out against the practices of the wealthy in a manner that few preachers are willing to do today. In honor of Basil the Great, I wanted to share one extended quote from a sermon of his that I read recently, Homily 6, entitled “I Shall Tear Down My Barns” (in reference to Luke 12).  I will warn you - this sermon will sound very blunt to modern American ears, which are not used to such direct confrontation on economic issues.

“But whom do I treat unjustly,” you say, “by keeping what is my own?” Tell me, what is your own? What did you bring into this life? From where did you receive it? It is as if someone were to take the first seat in the theater, then bar everyone else from attending, so that one person alone enjoys what is offered for the benefit of all in common—this is what the rich do. They seize common goods before others have the opportunity, then claim them as their own by right of preemption. For if we all took only what was necessary to satisfy our own needs, giving the rest to those who lack, no one would be rich, no one would be poor, and no one would be in need.

Did you not come forth naked from the womb, and will you not return naked to the earth? Where then did you obtain your belongings? If you say that you acquired them by chance, then you deny God, since you neither recognize your Creator, nor are you grateful to the One who gave these things to you. But if you acknowledge that they were given to you by God, then tell me, for what purpose did you receive them? Is God unjust, when He distributes to us unequally the things that are necessary for life? Why then are you wealthy while another is poor? Why else, but so that you might receive the reward of benevolence and faithful stewardship, while the poor are honored for patient endurance in their struggles? But you, stuffing everything into the bottomless pockets for your greed, assume that you wrong no one; yet how many do you in fact dispossess?

Who are the greedy? Those who are not satisfied with what suffices for their own needs. Who are the robbers? Those who take for themselves what rightfully belongs to everyone. And you, are you not greedy? Are you not a robber? The things you received in trust as a stewardship, have you not appropriated them for yourself? Is not the person who strips another of clothing called a thief? And those who do not clothe the naked when they have the power to do so, should they not be called the same? The bread you are holding back is for the hungry, the clothes you keep put away are for the naked, the shoes that are rotting away with disuse are for those who have none, the silver you keep buried in the earth is for the needy. You are thus guilty of injustice toward as many as you might have aided, and did not.

I read this in a collection of sermons by Basil on the topics of wealth and poverty, entitled On Social Justice. Besides two sermons generally addressed to the wealthy, the book also includes sermons on the proper response to natural disaster, advice to those who loan or wish to procure loans with interest, and the twin precepts of mercy and justice.